Kodi 14.0 “Helix” alpha 2

Kodi 14, which we gave the codename “Helix“, is shaping up to be what is often called a “stability” release. In software development, many projects operate on a sort of tick-tock release schedule. The “tick” often introduces new features, dramatically alters the UI, and can likely dramatically alter the underlying framework of the software. The “tock” on the other hand, goes back and cleans up the code, fixing old incompatibilities, eliminating UI inconsistencies, and often preparing the groundwork for the next major tick. Where Gotham was quite definitely a “tick,” Helix is shaping up to be a “tock.”

With that said, several features, fixes, and updates have been included so far that are definitely worth discussing.

The Next Generation of Video Codecs

To begin, Kodi has been updated to use FFmpeg 2.2.4. For users, this means Kodi will now be capable of playing back h.265 (also known as HEVC) and VP9 video codecs. This could result in dramatically smaller video files sizes with exactly the same level of quality. A 40 GB file could be compressed to 20 GB. A 1 GB file could be compressed to 500 MB without any loss in perceivable quality. Users with particularly large libraries or interest in 4K video may be especially likely to appreciate this update.

The caveat to this update is that it is entirely software based. This means most low power systems, such as those operating Android or iOS, may struggle compared to the heftier HTPCs or Intel NUCs and ZOTAC ZBOXes that are running desktop and laptop processors.

Library Improvements

The Kodi Library is getting improvements both coming in and going out. On the input side, library scanning is receiving a massive speed boost, which should make the initial scan on Android and iOS devices quite a bit more spritely.

On the output side, work continues, slowly but surely, on UPnP. Kodi is now significantly more compatible with servers like PlayOn and MediaBrowser, as client-related bugs have been dealt with. Further, communication between Kodi UPnP clients and Kodi UPnP servers continues to improve with proper or additional support for categories like date added, ratings, votes, and artwork, along with sorting for those new categories. UPnP search functions are also slowly working their way into Kodi.

Android and iOS

On the Android side, hardware playback improvements continue, including more and better support for various chipsets, improved fast forward and rewind capability, as well as 4K support for the AMLogic s802 chipset. On the iOS side, Airplay, which was fairly substantially broken by the update to iOS 7, appears to be almost entirely fixed on every platform save Android, which lacks certain software support, making Airplay playback only partially fixed on that platform.

Windows, OSX, and Linux

All three platforms continue to see improvements in audio playback and a reduction of many audio-related bugs that have been plaguing the platforms for a long time.

Other Changes

The changelog for Kodi 14 is 12 pages long and contains 333 changes so far. Needless to say, they can’t all be summarized here, but a few additional items worth noting include:

* Update PVR add-ons

* Start of redesigning the PVR windows

* Various improvements to the Audio Engine, with the OSX platform as great beneficiary.

* Improvements to the GUI skinning engine

* Extended JSON-RPC interface

* Countless smaller and larger bug-fixes throughout the program and vast improvements in every area. This should improve memory usage, stability, speed and user friendliness.

* Add-ons are still compatible up to the Frodo versions.

* Skins are partially still compatible, however to fully function they will need to be updated to latest changes. Expect breakage here.

Add-ons

As for this Helix release, so far there have only been small things changed in regards to add-ons. So we are happy to say that almost all add-ons that worked in Gotham, will also work in Helix. There are of course some exceptions, however this should be only be a minimal amount.

Skins

Creating a skins for Kodi takes many months of designing, coding, testing, tweaking and a lot of patience to get it just right. However with every major Kodi (past XBMC) release there is the problem of skins becoming incompatible due to various code changes. So for every release people who put a lot of effort creating these skins, need to adapt it for the next Kodi version. This could mean that your favourite skin doesn’t work in the next Kodi version. We are very glad to say, that thanks to a group of skin developers, there are already 2 Helix compatible skins available in our repository. From memory this has never happened before, that within the alpha stage there are already skins available for you to enjoy using. On our forum there are several more skins being worked on, to get these into shape for people to use. So hopefully by the time of final release, there will be several more available. So let’s all thank the developers for their hard work they do for the community.

Helix compatible skins in our repository at the moment are: Aeon Nox 5, Transparency!
Other are still included however they may lack the functionality you have been used to in some areas.

Because of your generosity in t-shirt sales, straight-up donations, and word-of-mouth evangelizing, this project has lasted for 12 years and through four different names, and with your help, we all believe it can last twice that long again. So we figured we’d offer a t-shirt to commemorate the name change.

There’s only one thing. The image at the top of this article is not the final logo. We are working with doghousemedia to truly realize an awesome logo, and we aren’t quite there yet.

So instead of offering a bit of swag with the new name, we figured we’d offer the exact opposite. This is it. The last XBMC shirt or related piece of merchandise we’re ever going to sell.

Conclusion

Should want to download and install this alpha (monthly) build please visit our download page. You will notice that you can still see “XBMC” in certain areas as we are still in transition to the new name, which takes time.

How to Contribute

If you use these builds, we encourage you to report problems with these builds on our forum first and after if asked submit bugs on Trac (following this guide: How to submit a bug report). Do note that we need detailed information so we can investigate the issue. We also appreciate providing support in our Forums where you can, or donate to the XBMC Foundation if you like. For a current FAQ on Kodi 14, visit our Helix FAQ. You can of course also foll0w or help promote Kodi on all available social networks.

Important:

http://xbmc.org is the only official place anything XBMC/Kodi related. This includes news, announcements, information or XBMC/Kodi downloads. There are of course manufacturers who also provide support with customized XBMC/Kodi versions, tailored for their devices. Should you have purchased from them it would be wise to first check, if it’s a known issue with that specific version. Any other third-party websites, offering you XBMC/Kodi installations, or people offering you pre-installed devices, are not officially supported by Team XBMC and may contain unwanted and unsupported additions, changes and add-ons. Installing these versions is at your own risk. XBMC/Kodi does not provide any media content on it’s own and comes with no add-ons installed regarding this. Should you have problems please contact the correct add-on developer or website should you experience any issues.

Discussion - 101 Comments

LongManAug 11, 2014

Thanks to the Devs for their work. I tried this alpha and noticed that videos start almost instantly when when using UPnP. On Gotham there is usually a little spinning wheel. On Helix Alpha 2, Press play, the movie starts. Amazing. Guess someone added some magic pixie dust to the code. Thanks again.

On another note, is UPnP scanning likely to make Helix? (Since Helix is a tock not tick)

Why not call it Box mediacenter its the media center for the boxes. Any boxes, Windows, tons of linux, the pi ‘s Apple, android, and it is related to a name every body knows. And the play logo fins right in to the Box Word.

aliAug 14, 2014

Alex, get over it and plz do not post name change questions or suggestions in this post.

grey74Aug 25, 2014

Do I sense some hostility? Not everyone is enamored with the name change such as yourself. I tend to agree with some of these posters. You have to expect push back on something like this

JKAug 11, 2014

HI, would it work with apple tv 1 & broadcom chip ? Thanks. J.

MartijnAug 11, 2014

Next alpha version we will drop hardware decoding support for Crystal HD and atv1

AkismalAug 13, 2014

i use crystal hd on my netbook acer aspire one please don t drop support for broadcom, Thanks in advance.

mariosm1cyAug 20, 2014

dropping support for crystal HD is definite?
I am using broadcom card on my netbook as well…

iredAug 27, 2014

Do you have an idea of when you will be releasing the next alpha version to support a stock atv1?

tomSep 02, 2014

Why drop support for a useful piece of hardware that extends the reach of your software? The code works, why waste the time and effort spent in developing it in the first place?

I cannot see the benefits of this decision or the justification for it; will you also drop VDPAU/VAAPI support suddenly in a few years despite many, many machines that rely on those to provide their video muscle? Continuing to support hwaccels only makes the software more attractive to users repurposing old hardware – and “if it ain’t broke, don’t ‘fix’ it”. It isn’t broken, so why mess with it?

I use the CrystalHD in hp thin clients as set-top boxes around the home. Without it, they can’t play 720/1080 files. I discovered this as a nasty surprise having just ‘upgraded’ to the latest alpha.

MATPOCAug 11, 2014

what about Helix name? There is the old known Helix Universal Server by Realnetworks.

aliAug 14, 2014

MAT, get over the name change and plz do not post name change questions or suggestions in this post.

RvDAug 20, 2014

He’s just asking how they came up with Helix, not suggesting they rename Kodi to Helix.

da-andaAug 26, 2014

Helix is just a codename like Gotham, Frodo, Eden, Dharma, … where before – and because we proceed in alphabet for each release with the codename, we decided for Helix for the v15-H* release

HunterZAug 11, 2014

What is the best way to communicate issues to the Audio Engine people? They don’t seem to read the forums or Trac these days.

KibAug 11, 2014

They usually check trac and the forum quite well. You could try the IRC channel as well and see if one is around.

MartijnAug 11, 2014

Perhaps you have considered that it’s holiday season?

handboneAug 11, 2014

“Perhaps you have considered that it’s holiday season?”

That would depend on what part of the world you’re from

AubreyAug 18, 2014

No that does not depend where you are from.
The FACT is that it IS holiday season in a large part of the world.
And that you have to keep in mind.

MikeAug 25, 2014

Yes, it does depend on what part of the world you are from. Trying not to be culturally insensitive here, but… What holiday season is it, and for whom? I’ve never personally heard of any holiday seasons happening in August. It’s impossible for someone to “keep that in mind” when it’s completely unknown.

HunterZAug 19, 2014

It was actually a couple months ago that I opened a trac ticket, which has gone unanswered. The bug has existed forever, so I don’t hold out much hope anyway.

Axi0nAug 11, 2014

Will this version be in-place upgradeable over the current stable XBMC?? Or is an uninstall and re-install recommended??

It will be once it becomes stable, but we generally do not advice doing it with alpha builds withoout making a full backup of the userdata first because the upgrade code for the database might not be 100% ok.

Obviously this is feedback we would like to have, so feel free to test.

FernandoAug 11, 2014

Will UPnp be able to stream external subtitles (.srt) in Helix ?
I read on the forum that his feature was planned to Gotham but due to personal reasons the developer couldn’t code it for Gotham.
thanks!

AlAug 13, 2014

Also very interested in this.

Thank you soo much XBMC/KODI team for all your incredible work, it is greatly appreciated!!

boingmanAug 11, 2014

Nice, didn’t know about the 4K support.

scfcmarkAug 11, 2014

Hi All
Ive tried to download xbmc to a laptop running vista but after its downloaded and i try to start xbmc it keeps saying
ERROR Unable to create GUI. Exiting
Then the computer just freezes, Ive only just started using comps so dont know if iam doing something wrong HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPP
Thanks

TerjeAug 14, 2014

Have you tried different bilde. I had to go back some days on the nightly builds before i fond one working for my pc. I got some signature error on Windows 7.

BigJRMAug 26, 2014

Older laptops with older dedicated video hardware may not be able to display the latest version of XBMC/KODI as the old hardware isn’t supported. It just doesn’t have the power required. Your best chance is to download an older version of XBMC until you get one that will run on your laptop. I have an older Toshiba Centrino in the living room with XBMC 12 playing a slideshow of our family photos and background music.

hdmkvAug 11, 2014

What about Blu-ray 3D ISO and/or MVC MKV support? Still a no-go?

TobiAug 12, 2014

I’m also waiting for 3D Blu-ray iso !!!!

da-andaAug 26, 2014

no, still not possible as it’s not implemented in ffmpeg which we rely on to do be able to support it

I like the new name, though I’ll miss calling it XBMC also…that’s what my Mac Mini is named too in the system since it’s my media center. Only thing missing is the Blu-Ray support. It sucks I have to run a different program in OSX just to play blu-ray movies off my Mac.

Having run Gotham succesfully on my Win 7 laptop and Nexus 7 (original) for some time and thought it amazing, I was disappointed with the laggy play and poor audio synching on my MK809 iii Rockchip smart TV stick (XBMC being the reason I bought this). Will this release improve matters?

De KrakerAug 12, 2014

Thanks guys! You’re the best.
Good to hear that you’re working on improving upnp sharing.
Although upnp sharing between two XBMC instances is already a great experience since Gotham.
Are you also working on supporting streaming external subs over upnp?

Thanks so much for all the hard work! When I run Kodi 14 Setup, I receive: “Error opening file for writing: C:\Program Files (X86)\XBMC\XBMC.exe. Should I uninstall Gotham 13.2 first? I have backed up my UserData. Or download the Install Package again? Again thanks for everything!!!

MartijnAug 13, 2014

it means the XBMC process was still running. Wait a bit or reboot.

SmobboAug 13, 2014

Nice to see the development pace is still relentless
It might be time to change the default skin (or alteast bring it up to modern standards).
Confluence just looks very old fashioned (very dharma, frodo), compared to modern skins like Eminence or Xperience1080.

Is this something you are looking into/thinking about? Many first time users will probably be a bit put off by seeing confluence as standard

BuffyAug 13, 2014

I love xbmc, but I hate the new name…
far too similar to “Kot” (and that means “shit” in german…)

As a MySQL user for shared library source, I would assume that if I make the move to Kodi Alpha that I would need to ensure that all my devices would need to be on the same version as well.

Have I got that right?

Quick Q #2 – Also, since there is a move to software based decoding, will Kodi function on the ARM based boxes (like the Pivos Xios)?

Thanks!

ps: “Kodi Alpha”… Ha! Sounds like something from “Space 1999″ ! )

KibAug 14, 2014

1) Yes you need the same database versions on all systems (as usual)

2) We are not moving to software decoding, we just updated ffmpeg which has software decoding support for those two new codecs. All the rest is still hardware decoded if you have the appropiate hardware.

TerjeAug 14, 2014

Could someone make a viaplay addon. And a hbo plugin that dont start the film in a webbrowser. I have been thinking about doping it but i dont know how. But as Long as the tv3 play is in There it should beklager possible.

anneshaAug 15, 2014

Hollo

IdokAug 15, 2014

Could you tell us something more about the Extended JSON-RPC interface? I can’t find anything about it in the JSON forum.

RichardAug 16, 2014

Great work great name guys
chromecast support yes or no

Stray CatAug 16, 2014

I’ll miss you XBMC.

Come on Kodi get in your box. I’ll change your splash screen later.

RichardAug 16, 2014

I keep seeing things about software decoding over hardware. Isn’t this a step backward? I’m not going to build a high power, large htpc to play video that should run fine on lower power hardware driven system. Htpc’s aren’t meant to be workstations.

MartijnAug 16, 2014

that’s because there is no hardware which can play those specific video files. so you need software

TwistedZeonAug 16, 2014

I’m happy to see XBMC is still going strong even with a name change.

I have one thing that bothers me when trying to use the program though and if this were fixed it’d make me use this without a second thought. I am an avid anime watcher and I have 4 HHDs full of it. I like how XBMC can make it look so nice to browse through and keep track of what I have and haven’t watched, but my biggest issue is with trying to get my collection into XBMC properly, most of my shows will be seen but no episodes will be found yet I have all of them. I’ve searched hours to find out how to fix it and I found a solution but it just is way too time consuming to actually make it all worth it. If you guys can make Kodi more friendly to anime lovers and their collections then I think that would be a great thing.

XonicAug 21, 2014

Could it be that your episodes are not named properly? S01E01 for example is season one episode one. This is one of the numbering formats XBMC can handle. Hope that helps…

ferryAug 17, 2014

one thing…….sacd iso

AdamAug 18, 2014

Long ago I had a fine dog. Strong, clever and a friend for life.
She was 16 years old when she died.
Her name was Kodi..
Gives you hope, to hear her name again.

SzymonAug 18, 2014

So how about Retro Player? It had to be incroporated in v. 14 afaik that was dev con conclusion.

da-andaAug 26, 2014

no, it didn’t have to be in v14. At devcon we said that having only RetroPlayer in core would already qualify for a new release. So if RetroPlayer is ready for prime time shortly after Helix is out, we might do a fast v15 release. But given that neither the new joystick API nor the generic game player API is in core yet (nor reviewed), it’ll take some more time I guess.

CostasAug 19, 2014

Looks fairly good so far on both Windows and Android, without serious UI changes. Playback is roughly similar to 13.2 on both my laptop and my Tegra3 tablet. Haven’t tried my Pi yet.

One thing though, the scroll method used is *no good at all* for touch devices, especially the “elastic” animation effect, where the scrolled element does not follow your finger but moves on its own, trying to place an item on an “integer” position. This method is used by all skins and I suspect that it is hard-wired. I found no tweaks that can fix this problem.

If you use a remote, this looks very nice, but on a touch device it is very hard to move around. Scrolled items, should be closely controlled by the finger, without any elastic effect or movement of their own.

I find I’m using more and more my tablet for watching videos and playing music and I suspect others do too, so is there any chance we’re going to see things improving in this version? Also some more touch skins? “Touched” is designed for 4:3 and looks ridiculously stretched on a 16:9 or 16:10 screen.

MartijnAug 19, 2014

you can try re-touched

CostasAug 20, 2014

Indeed, “Re-Touched” fixes the aspect ratio. XBMC, not being at Google Play, I don’t have installation stats, but I suspect there’s a lot of people that have it installed, so a couple more good touch-oriented skins, would be nice. A good touch skin needs to have lots of “buttons” or “icons” to deal with the inaccessibility of features like changing the panel view (accessible by pressing left or up in other skins), an always present “Home” button, a button to show the currently playing item, which shows always when anything is playing and other such things. Ideally, the design paradigm would follow the current Android/iOS/Windows guidelines, as such skins are not meant to be viewed at a distance, nor be controlled with TV remotes. BIG, BIG, HUGE problem is the scrolling method, which should be dealt with.

TE5LAAug 20, 2014

I tried the latest Kodi and could not get it to work with local drives on a network (Windows 7). XBMC Gotham works fine. Is this a known issue?

Its fine to go ahead and declare Helix a tock, but I can’t see a reason to frame Gotham as something it wasn’t. It was surely a tock

boxieAug 29, 2014

I downloaded the Kodi 14.0 but it does not work. The words on the tabs does not show. Navi X and Mash-Up doesn’t work either. Keep showing errors.

MartijnAug 30, 2014

We do not support those addons

hairybuffaloAug 29, 2014

Very disappointed that it is not code named Hodor.

JoseSep 03, 2014

I downloaded the last version apk of Kodi 14 he turns well but i can’t see the videos i only listen the sound of the videos i dont know why in tvs i can see sound and the video but in videos from internet i can’t see the video but i can ear the sound of the video i dont know why thanks for your help

JoeSep 07, 2014

Question for ya ,do you know If i have XBMC 13.2 ‘Gotham” installed on my Win 8.1 pc ,could i also install Kodi 14.0 “Helix” at the same time to try it out without any issues ?

DragonwaySep 08, 2014

Hello, Are there any plans for a shared library on other running XBMC without using mysql position?

ClaudiaOct 04, 2014

Hi everyone, I have tried downloading the latest XBMC and now Koti latest I have a windows 8.1 pc that is connected to my tv monitor so that I can watch my movies.
But Koti crashes constantly I put the movie on and halfway or even 10 mins into the movie it crashes and I had already rebooted, restored, return to manufacture settings on my pc but still it does this. all of my movies are on a external drive not in the pc. Anybody has any answers as to why this is happening? I would really appreciate any help on this
Thank you

Clau –

Desperate to have my movies play without crashing on Koti

squidficiousOct 05, 2014

Working great on my window 7 I7 machine, however one nagging thing is when I exit the program the program stops responding and requires a hard close to end.

TomOct 18, 2014

How do you add repos in V14 on iOS? Can anyone help me.

poul54Dec 06, 2014

will kodi support hardware decode of h265, i have a nuc 2820, and can play this format with mpc-hc player, so mpc-hc most have hardware decoding

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About Kodi

Kodi is a free and open source media player application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. Kodi is available for multiple operating-systems and hardware platforms, featuring a 10-foot user interface for use with televisions and remote controls. It allows users to play and view most videos, music, podcasts, and other digital media files from local and network storage media and the internet.